


billet-doux

by cyandlne



Category: Tales of Graces
Genre: M/M, Secret Admirer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29547774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyandlne/pseuds/cyandlne
Summary: The town of Lhant is abuzz when word gets out Asbel Lhant has a secret admirer. His daughter, Sophie, is determined to figure out who is sending these letters, and enlists the help of a new friend.
Relationships: Asbel Lhant/Raymond Oswell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	billet-doux

**Author's Note:**

> i'll be honest, i REALLY wanted to be the person to create the ship tag. viva la raybel

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day, my sweet?

Kind, warm, and beautiful as you are,

the sun simply doesn’t stand a chance.

From, your secret admirer.”

Asbel stared at the letter as the words lingered on his tongue. Sophie traced a few words with her finger, then looked at Asbel, eyes wide. Lady Kerri put her hands on her hips.

“Well, it seems my son Asbel is the talk of the town! Which lady’s eye have you caught this time?” She smiled, a glean of excitement in her eye.

“…Are we sure this is for me?” Asbel read the letter again once more, stamped with hearts and little doodle patterns all over the page. “It doesn’t have an actual addressee…”

“I don’t think it’s for Lady Sophie,” Frederic said, patting his forehead with a handkerchief. “And forgive me for saying so, Lady Kerri, but -“

“Oh, no offense taken, Frederic. The whole town knows I won’t remarry.” Kerri waved her hand happily. “It must be for Asbel!”

“Maybe…it was delivered to the wrong house-“

“Nonsense, Asbel!” Kerri shook her head in dismay. “Look here; It doesn’t have any stamps, meaning it was hand delivered! And there’s not a chance someone mistook Lhant manor for someone else’s house.”

“So, Asbel,” Sophie’s eyes were wide with wonder. “What’s a secret admirer?”

“It’s um…someone who has a crush on me, but they don’t want to tell me who they are yet.” Asbel felt his face flush. Who could it be? There really was no mistaking it, the letter had to be for him. It couldn’t have been from…well, no. It wasn’t exactly a secret anymore, and she’s far too busy for semantics like this anyway. But still…

* * *

The letter was far more distressing for Asbel than he anticipated it being, and it certainly didn’t help that everyone in the manor was talking about it with a burning curiosity. Each person’s nosiness was somehow equally bad, but Sophie being the most interested in the whole affair saddled Asbel with a new host of feelings. She was growing up, taking an interest in love and romance affairs, and that was really hard to come to terms with. Worst of all was, she kept talking about it with everyone she knew. Asbel was almost positive she saw a letter addressed to Hubert leave the manor. Though, he couldn’t blame her; It _was_ interesting.

“Asbel, I’m leaving now.”

Asbel looked up from the paperwork, noticing he had left a blot of ink on the end of his pen while lost in thought. “Oh, OK. What’s today again?”

“The second Wednesday of the month,” Sophie said proudly. “I’m going to have lunch with Raymond.”

Biweekly lunch with Raymond… it was an idea that took Asbel a while to allow. Asbel hated the idea holding a grudge, but everything about Raymond was…well…Raymond. Hubert insisted no harm could truly come of it, Raymond had no shady intentions with Sophie and it would be good for Sophie to help Raymond learn some of her kindness, and Hubert was usually right about stuff like that. Even his mom had fallen for Raymond’s feigned chivalry, and she encouraged the idea, but none of that mattered. What really sealed the deal was Sophie’s utter insistence that she and Raymond were friends. He had seen it every once in a while, Sophie would come back from shopping with Raymond by her side, or the two of them would be in the garden, learning about flowers together. It would be sweet, if it wasn’t Raymond. But how could Asbel say no to his own daughter?

Asbel nodded. “Right. Well, be safe, have fun, if you’re not home in 4 hours I’ll come get you…you know the drill.”

“Yes, Asbel,” Sophie _almost_ rolled her eyes at Asbel, but still smiled and left the study excitedly.

* * *

“Hi, Raymond!” Sophie waved to Raymond across the bridge, holding a basket of food prepared by Lady Kerri. He waved back and smiled, his eyes hidden by the sunlight reflecting off of his glasses. “Let’s go down to the river for lunch today.” She said when they met in the middle of the bridge. He nodded and walked along with her toward the southeast exit of town.

“What’s new, Sophie?” He asked as he sat down on the picnic blanket. “Are your flowers coming in nicely?”

“Yes,” She nodded. “The warm weather has really made them open up. It may be the best garden yet!”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Raymond shifted his weight from leg to leg as he sat on his knees. “Never forget that there’s always room for improvement.”

“Right,” Sophie had a serious expression as she nodded once more. Suddenly, a smile she couldn’t contain pulled at the corners of her mouth. “Raymond, you have to hear about this.” She paused to take a bite of what Asbel called “crab salad”, which was kind of like crablettes, but Asbel kept insisting Sophie eat a larger variety of foods. Plus, it’s hard to carry crablettes in a picnic basket.

“Oh?” Raymond picked out a cucumber sandwich from the basket and took a small bite.

Sophie smiled. “Asbel has a secret admirer.”

Raymond choked on the bite of the sandwich.

“Are you OK?” Sophie rushed to pour some water from the canteen into a cup, then practically shoved it into his hands. “Drink this.” He took a solid gulp and swallowed down his food, gasping for breath.

“Asbel…has a secret admirer?” He asked, resting a hand on his chest as he worked to subtly catch his breath.

“Well, we think it’s Asbel. Someone left a letter but it’s not for me or Frederic or Mommom Kerri, as far as we know.”

“What about Cheria?” Raymond blinked a few times. “Wasn’t she supposed to finally move in last weekend?”

“I’m surprised you remembered that, Raymond,” Sophie shook her head. “But Cheria had to stay in Fendel for another couple weeks, so she can’t move in just yet.”

“So that letter…must have been for Asbel…” Raymond stared at the sand beneath the blanket intently. “W-What did it say?”

“I don’t really remember, but…it was kind of sweet. Asbel doesn’t seem too sure about it, though. He seems a little stressed about it.”

“Stressed, huh…” Raymond clenched his fist. Sure, _Asbel_ was stressed. Of course _Asbel_ was stressed. Just ignore the stress of the actual secret admirer who’s letter went to the wrong person, and focus on poor, innocent _Asbel_. It really shouldn’t have surprised Raymond that the blockhead lord would think the letter was for him, but it certainly exacerbated things.

“Do you know who might have sent it, Raymond?” Sophie looked at Raymond expectantly. “You hang around Lhant a lot, right? Did anyone tell you anything?”

“I’ll be honest, Sophie…” Raymond sighed. It made the most sense to clear the air right now. Just put it out in the open. Sophie’s eyes looked as though they might pop out of her head. Raymond paused for a moment to consider - this is possibly the most interesting thing she’s had going on in a while. “I don’t know.”

Sophie nodded. “I see. Well, maybe you’d know if you saw it!” She clapped her hands in delight, having landed on, in her mind, the best case scenario. “Will you help us, Raymond?”

“O-Of course.”

* * *

“We’re home!” Sophie called out as she entered the manor. She then pointed to the mat at the front door. “Make sure you wipe your feet, Raymond.”

He grimaced as he did as instructed. The last time he was in the manor for longer than a minute or two, was when he - well, no point dredging those feelings up now. It still felt strange, and he wasn’t sure the satisfaction of seeing Asbel try and hide his chagrin would make up for it. On cue, the door to the study opened.

“Welcome ba - Raymond. What a…surprise.”

No. The satisfaction was ten times stronger than the shame.

“Hi, Asbel. Can you go get the secret admirer letter? Raymond said he’s going to help us figure out who’s it from.”

“He…is?” Asbel shook his head very covertly, and bit his lip. “I will go get it. One second.”

* * *

Asbel sat in at his desk in his study and begrudgingly handed the letter to Raymond, leaning on the chair above him.

“What do you think, Raymond?” Sophie asked, sitting on top of the desk.

“Um, I’m not really sure…” He wasn’t sure what to say. If he made one false move, Asbel wouldn’t hesitate to tear into him. The tension in the air was thick enough to slice through with a knife.

Asbel waved a hand. “Sophie, can you go see if Mom needs any help with the dishes?”

“Oh, um, right.” Sophie rocked herself off the desk and exited the room dutifully. It took all of four seconds for her footsteps to dissipate, and it was like Asbel’s filter immediately switched off.

“So, you wanted a part in this, just out of the goodness of your heart?” Asbel grimaced as he plucked the letter from between Raymond's fingers.

“Oh, like I even want to be here,” Raymond forcefully snatched the letter from Asbel’s hand. “I couldn’t say no to Sophie.”

“…Right.” Asbel rolled his eyes, though he too knew the feeling all too well. He noticed Raymond was leaning an elbow on his chair, so he leaned back and Raymond stumbled as he lost his balance.

“Believe me, _your lordship_ ,” Raymond hissed. “I’d rather not spend my time reading about how someone is madly in love with _you._ ”

“Makes sense,” Asbel bit back. “Considering you’d know a lot about people who are also in love with me.”

“You little...!…If I thought less of the person who wrote this, I’d tear it in half.”

“So, you _do_ know who wrote it?” Asbel’s tone shifted back to curiosity.

“Of course not,” Raymond shook his head vigorously. “But it’s obvious they put a lot of thought into it.” Raymond’s eyes scanned the page, and he almost felt a little…proud.

“…You think?” Asbel held his hand out gently; Raymond thoughtlessly handed it back. Why did he do that? “It’s kind of….cliche.”

“Cliche?!” Raymond gasped. “It’s romantic!”

“I feel like I’ve read it somewhere before,” Asbel chewed, bringing a thoughtful hand to his chin. “Don’t you think it sounds kind of…familiar?”

“It’s referential,” Raymond scoffed. How could someone be so dense? “Not that I’d expect a dimwit like you to know.”

“Hubert says I need to be more well-read, so you’re probably right…”

“I’m back.” Sophie’s voice came from behind the door as she peeked into the room. “Mommom is all done with the dishes now. Did you figure it out, Raymond?”

“No luck, Sophie. I’m sorry.” Raymond shook his head in disappointment. Sophie frowned, and Raymond felt an immediate and unconscious urge to cheer her up.

“That’s sad,” Sophie sighed. “But when they leave the next letter, I’m sure we’ll get closer to figuring it out!”

“The next letter?” Asbel and Raymond asked in unison, astonished.

“That’s what Kerri was telling me. She said secret admirers write a lot of letters and put clues in them to help the recipient figure out the secret!” Sophie smiled. “So it’s probably only a matter of time.”

* * *

The next letter…

Raymond sat at his desk and let his pen hover over the page. It had been a painstaking half hour trying to think of anything to say. The first letter was easy; He spoke from the heart about the love of his life. But knowing now that everyone thought the letter was for Asbel…the thought made him shudder. The sentiments were meant for Cheria, they were always for Cheria, and that blockhead lord didn’t deserve them. Raymond sighed. There was no easy way out. If he stops sending the letters until Cheria does move in, he’ll reveal himself as one of the only players to know all pieces of the puzzle. If he stops _altogether_ , it will be as suspicious for Asbel as it is disappointing for Sophie. And Raymond couldn’t stand to see her so downtrodden. Perhaps his original plan could be adapted to work after all. If he wrote to Cheria once more, perhaps a little more specifically this time, they’d figure out it was an honest mistake. Yes, that could work. That _will_ work. It had to. Raymond put pen to page and let his heart do the rest.


End file.
